Nobber school 'top priority" for expansion

O"Carolan College in Nobber is at the top of the priority list for development approval, Education Minister Batt O"Keeffe told Meath East TD Thomas Byrne in the Dail. There are presently 450 students in the school but this number is expected to increase and, in recognition of this, the school plans to develop accordingly and a number of exciting projects for development at the school are in the pipeline. Principal Brian Goggins said O"Carolan College has been granted a 3,000 square metre extension by the Department of Education 'which we hope to have approved for construction by the current Minister for Education, Batt O"Keeffe, early in the new year'. Mr Goggins added: 'There is €581 million in the capital budget for the Department of Education for the year 2009, which is an increase of €80 million on last year"s capital budget. We understand that O"Carolan College"s extension is part of that €80 million.' A school extension will include a number of extra practical rooms, including two science laboratories, a home economics room, construction studies room and a number of general classrooms. It will also include a full-sized gym, which will be the biggest in the area. At a recent EGM of the school"s parents council, dissatisfaction was expressed with the cutbacks in education announced in the budget, but there was a confidence among the attendance at the meeting that the school"s building project would go ahead.